


Matters of the Soul

by guineamania



Series: GYWO Bingo 2016 [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tattoos, multiple soul mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 12:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7573888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineamania/pseuds/guineamania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 times Felicity saw Oliver's soulmarks and the one time he saw hers</p>
            </blockquote>





	Matters of the Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Curious
> 
> Some slight changes to canon but nothing major

It had always been believed that soulmates were for life. Every child was raised knowing there was one true love out there in the world for them and they were destined to be together. But what if your soulmate died before you were together, did that mean you were destined to be alone. As scientific studies continued into the biology behind soul mating, they discovered people who had more than one soulmate, even people whose soulmate markings developed later in life. The markings were in the form of tattoo like images; no one had discovered how the images were formed or chosen but you would know your soulmate as you have matching tattoos. Oliver Queen was an abnormality, all the way through his teenage years and up until he left on that fateful yacht journey he never had a mark. Of course the Queen family had hidden this from the world and from his long term girlfriend Laurel Lance. But when he came back that had all changed.

 

1)

 

The first time Felicity saw Oliver shirtless was when Diggle hauled him onto the table to remove the bullet from his chest. The identity of the soulmate of the Queen heir had always been a closely guarded secret; people had always speculated that it was Laurel Lance but it had never been confirmed. So Felicity was certainly shocked to see the star shaped faded tattoo on the vigilante’s shoulder. That didn’t look like anything she had seen before and was transfixing. Her heart twisted, running her fingers over the faded mark. His soulmate was dead; maybe that was why Oliver always slept around and had no intentions of ever settling down. Felicity had never particularly cared about the soulmate connection. Her mother and father were soulmates and that had still turned out horribly despite destiny’s meddling. She decided from a young age that she didn’t care who her soulmate was, if she found someone who loved her then she wouldn’t let that small tattoo get in the way. “He won’t tell me who she was,” Diggle stated as they waited for Oliver to come round. “But according to his sister, Oliver didn’t have any soulmarkings at all when he left on the gambit,” he explained and they feel back into silence. No soul marks. Everyone had a soul mark; that must have been why the Queens always dodged the question. However Felicity didn’t know whether she hoped Oliver had met her before she died, or didn’t have to go through the pain of losing someone he loved.

 

2)

 

“I saw your tattoo on some of those men,” Felicity tentatively brought up as they sat waiting in the truck for Diggle and Lyla to escape from the gulag. Oliver lowered the binoculars from his eyes and turned to stare at Felicity. Anatoli had stepped out for a smoke and Felicity couldn’t contain her curiousity anymore. “One of Anatoli’s men had your tattoo in exactly same place but it can’t be him because your tattoo is faded,” she babbled trying to stop Oliver staring at her that way.

“The tattoo is the sign of the Bratva, mine is slightly different,” he stated but Felicity wasn’t done.

“Surely that must be very confusing, I thought people didn’t get tattoos anymore because of soul marks,” she continued and Oliver sighed.

“It is to show loyalty to the leader of the Bratva, a tattoo over your heart shows that your loyalty to Anatoli is stronger than that of any other. My soulmate was also Bratva, out tattoos are the Bratva sigil with our initials hidden in the pattern,” Oliver explained. Felicity was still not finished.

“Who was she?” Felicity asked softly.

“Her name was Kariyeva Zakharovna, but I always called her Kari. She was Anatoli’s niece and we met when I came to Russia during those five years. I had business here and Anatoli told me there would always be a place in his organisation. I liked her, when I became captain I was finally high enough rank for it to be acceptable for us to be in a relationship. When we slept together, Kari noticed the abnormalities in my tattoo matched hers,” Oliver explained, Felicity didn’t know how he could cope with that much death in his soul. Felicity always knew Oliver was strong but this was a different type of strong.

 

 

3)

 

“Her name was Shado,” Oliver stated, nursing a glass of whisky as Felicity poured herself another glass of wine. Shade’s return at the Queen Mansion had led to Oliver stalling going home after their nightly adventures and a little alcohol gave him the courage to tell Felicity about the truth behind Slade’s hatred. His hand reached up to cup the back of his neck and stroked over the faded dragon tattoo over his shoulder blade. Felicity had seen it one day when Oliver was doing one of his many work outs but now knew not to push on these matters. “The tattoo formed while I was on the Gambit and it hurt to know it wasn’t Laurel’s or Sara’s. But when I met her I knew we were meant to be together,” Oliver smiled softly. “She taught me how to shoot and talked me through the aftermath of my first real kill. It wasn’t the best circumstances but I loved her. The problem was, so did Slade. We foiled the plans of a man called Ivo but I thought Slade was dead and Ivo held me, Shado and Sara captive. He made me choose,” Oliver murmured, his eyes dulling with unshed tears as he took another sip of the whiskey. “I couldn’t, so he tried to shoot Sara. I stopped him but I couldn’t stop him shooting Shado. She died in my arms and Slade blames me,” Oliver explained, Felicity didn’t know what to say so she just reached over and brushed her fingers over his knuckles. “It hurts. It feels like your heart has been torn out of your chest and squeezed until you feel like it might crumble,” he continued but the tears were wiped away and it looked like the conversation had never happened. Oliver was good at that, compartmentalisation. From the outside it seemed like he just had a switch to turn his emotions on and off.

 

 

4)

 

“We’ve talked about all the others,” Felicity grinned, the sheet wrapped around her body as Oliver stretched out on the top of the mattress. She had thoroughly enjoyed their trip around the world but Ivy Town was something else. It felt like a dream and Felicity had never seen Oliver smile so much since she had met him. “All your soulmarks, Shado, Kari. But not the Chinese one,” Felicity pushed as his fingers ghosted over the top of the sheet and tickled her pale skin. She reached out and examined the faded marks.

“You know I worked for ARGUS in Hong Kong. To order me to serve they threatened my handler and his family. One day I was taken away from Maseo and back to the ARGUS base. They had found my soul mate, she was called Mei and was a Chinese university student studying law,” Oliver paused. “I seem to have a thing for lawyers,” he mused but the feeling of Felicity leaning up against his chest dragged him back to the present. “I was naïve back then, I thought they had found her to bring us together but they used her to ensure my compliance. I never knew her really, by meeting her we bonded but she died before we got to know each other. There was toxic gas released over the city. She was one of the ones that died,” Oliver’s voice trailed away.

“I’m sorry,” Felicity whispered, kissing her lover on the jaw.

“I don’t need them, I can’t stay in the past forever and I have you now.”

 

5)

 

Despite having seen Oliver completely naked on many occasions, Felicity had not before seen the tattoo on the back of his neck. It was hidden on the hairline and it was only when she was cleaning a knock to the back of the head she noticed it. It was a small arrow, plain and simple unlike the rest of his soul markings. Now normally she would believe that it could be a choice tattoo, something to remind himself of the endeavour but the tattoo on her hip said otherwise. They matched, it explained the close connection as soon as they met but she didn’t know what to do. Yes, Felicity Smoak loved Oliver Queen but she couldn’t go through that all again. She couldn’t cope with the lies and the self-sacrificing. Everyone else had left. There was just the two of them and Oliver was too weak for this to be thrown on him. She would wait, even though it pained her to do so. Maybe one day they would be able to make this work.

 

+1)

 

“Oliver,” Felicity enquired, sticking her head into the Arrow cave. Oliver and Felicity were taking a step back now that the New Team Arrow was fully trained and there had been no big bad for the past few years. This also meant Oliver had more time to help fix the city as mayor and their relationship had blossomed. It had led to this point. The night before their wedding, and Oliver was nowhere to be found. It was driving Diggle to distraction as he had brought in every hand to try and find the wayward groom. The first thought was the Queen family cemetery but Felicity just knew he would be down here. The lights were on and Oliver’s form could be seen sat in front of the case containing the Arrow suit. “Hey,” Felicity smiled, settling down next to him and leaning on his shoulder.

“Hey,” Oliver sighed, his fingers rubbing in the usual pattern on the side of his hand.

“Diggle’s looking for you, and Quentin thinks that he’s scared you away with the realisation that he will be your father in law,” Felicity joked, bringing a soft smile to his face.

“I just needed some time away. We used to spend so much time down here,” Oliver mused, looking at the suit that sat in front of them. It was time, Felicity’s tattoo fizzled as she turned the thought over and over in her mind. He needed to know and they couldn’t continue to build this relationship on secrets.

“Love, I’ve got something to show you,” Felicity closed her eyes tightly and lifted up the side of her shirt. Oliver’s intake of breath showed he saw what she intended. Felicity was scared to open her eyes; what if he hated her for hiding this from him? Slowly she inched her eyes open but the awe painted across Oliver’s face brought a smile to hers.

“Well that settles it. We definitely have to get married,” Oliver chuckled, capturing Felicity’s lips in a passionate kiss. This changed nothing; yes they were soulmates, they knew that anyway.


End file.
